A second airport in western Sydney won’t necessarily lead to a large jump in international flights because of ­limitations under international agreements that are likely to apply to it.

Infrastructure and Regional Development Minister
Warren Truss
said it was likely the $2.5 billion airport, to be located 56 kilometres west of the CBD, would be treated as a major capital city airport for the purposes of ­international agreements.

That means airlines from countries already operating at or near the limit of bilateral caps, such as Hong Kong, Malaysia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, the Philippines and China, would not be able to fly extra aircraft to Australia at the western Sydney airport rather than at Kingsford Smith.

“I think it is likely to be considered one of the four major airports [Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth] but those are issues that will have to be ­discussed," Mr Truss said. “It is likely western Sydney would be considered part of Sydney."

Avalon Airport, which has no international flights and is a similar distance to Melbourne as Badgerys Creek is to Sydney, is considered part of the Melbourne cap for bilaterals.

However, the Gold Coast airport, which is further away from Brisbane, is treated as separate from the capital city and has attracted several international services.

Bilateral limits would not apply to airlines from New Zealand, Singapore and the US as unlimited capacity to capital cities is available under those agreements.

Sydney gets ‘notice to consult’

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Separately, the government issued
Sydney Airport
with a “notice to consult" due to its first right of refusal over building a western Sydney airport.

The nine-month consultation phase is set to begin on September 30, marking the start of negotiations that could take up to two years. Sydney Airport will then have the opportunity to ­exercise its rights to develop the airport. If it does not, the government will put the project out to tender.

“If there are any changes made to attract another offer, those changes have to first be offered to [Sydney Airport] as part of their right of first refusal," Mr Truss said.

He said he expected the airport would be financed privately by the builder but added “if these negotiations fail, one of the options would be for the government to build the airport itself".

The consultation is expected to focus on a detailed examination of the business case including, but not ­limited to, passenger forecasting, demographics, airport design and ­operation, planning and commercial development, ­environmental analysis, and funding and financial modelling.

Mr Truss said the government expected the airport to begin as a single runway development with no ­curfew, with operations starting in the mid-2020s.

He said he expected it would cater for international and domestic flights but whether both would occur at the start would be up to airlines.

“I suspect there will be a need for an international terminal at the first stage," he said.

“Having said that, Adelaide has its international terminal in the same ­terminal as the domestic terminal. It doesn’t necessarily mean it will be a separate building."